Night and Day
by MogoGiggler
Summary: Serena Tsukino is lost in life, not completely knowing where to go or what to do next because of her awful past. Can two raven haired siblings help her put her life back together once again? Read on. Rated R for later chapters. Read and Review please!
1. Friends

Serena Tsukino took a long drag from the last of her cigarette, and then flicked the glowing orange nub out of the car window while blowing puffs into the chilly night air. She had looked at the miniscule clock over her radio that read 10:18. She sighed to herself, she really needed to be at her apartment right now, making good use of the extra time she had to study because she didn't have to work at The Black Moon nightclub tonight. Her 2nd semester final for her Advanced Music Theory class was next Monday; and she was SO not ready. However, her friend Emerald had insisted that she come over right away. Not wanting to argue with the irrational woman, she obliged, still knowing that whatever Emerald wanted Serena for was probably for her to do her a favor, or get her out of a sticky situation that she seemed to always be in. Serena did hate it sometimes that all Emerald did was use her, but she was the one of the only people in Serena's life who could put up with her constant negativity, besides her parents.

A crease forming in her forehead, she thought bitterly about how she and Emerald had become acquainted. In high school, Serena was known for her singing abilities, her peers and teachers, upon hearing her sing, had told her she sounded like an angel, and encouraged her to make the most of her gift. Serena did love to sing, and decided to pursue her musical talents, and become a voice coach and music teacher for aspiring musicians. Because of her talent, she had received a scholarship to New York University. She moved to New York as soon as she graduated and settled down into an apartment. Looking for a decent job, she met Emerald. They both applied for the position as bartender at the Black Moon nightclub. They brought their applications in on the same day, and had a small conversation about how long each of them had been in the city, what their plans were for the future, and somewhere in the conversation, they exchanged phone numbers. They had been "friends" ever since.

She sighed as she pulled into the apartment complex's lot. Serena slowly stepped out of her red mustang, she was careful not to ever move quickly, grace was definitely not one of her strong points. She closed the door as she yawned, it was only then that she saw Emerald's boyfriend, Diamond's car parked in a spot a few cars down.

"Ugh…" Serena said to herself as she glared at the white Subaru. Diamond was the last person she wanted to see right now, she couldn't stand that man. Emerald and Diamond had been "dating" for close to three months now, but it was obvious to everyone that this was a very one sided relationship. Serena had almost tried to tell Emerald before that all Diamond wanted from her was sex, but simply let it go. Emerald was old enough to make her own decisions. Serena felt her face flush pink with anger as she thought about how Diamond, on several occasions had tried to feel her up, or succeeded in doing so, not caring who was around or how it made Emerald or Serena feel.

"That bastard..." Serena said quietly to herself, throwing her purse over her shoulder and ringing the doorbell.

"COMING!!" she heard a high pitched voice scream, entirely too loud, Serena stood in the cold, wondering why she was wasting her time.

The door opened, revealing a tall, slender, green haired woman. Emerald was wearing a satin, long sleeved green dress and black tights with green slippers. Serena looked at the woman's outfit and frowned to herself, she looked like she was preparing to go to a party.

"Are you checking me out?" Emerald asked with a stupid smirk on her face, and then she let out one of her high pitched cackles that grated on Serena's nerves. She shook her head in disgust as she ducked underneath Emerald's left arm to enter the warm room out of the cold.

"If you had told me we were going clubbing, I would have brought my stilettos and fishnets." Serena said sarcastically, looking down at her black sweats, Asics, and NYU hoodie. "Well it looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, what the hell is your problem?" Emerald asked, closing the door and putting her hands on two very curvy hips. Serena sighed and walked across the room towards the couch.

"I woke up on the wrong side of life, Emerald. Now what was it that you needed?" Serena said as she plopped down on Emerald's cozy leather sofa, if she was going to be stuck here, she figured that she may as well be comfortable.

"I kinda need your help again Serena…" Serena put a hand on her cheek, "What is it that you need this time Emerald?"

"Well," she started out, twirling a lock of wavy green hair around her pale finger.

"I need to borrow some money, for just a little while; I promise I can pay you back! Eventually…" Emerald gave Serena a huge fake smile and walked across the room to sit with her on the couch. Serena just looked at Emerald, a blank stare plastered across her pretty features. Emerald had asked Serena for many things over the course of their so-called "friendship", but never money. Hell, she didn't have to, Serena knew that Emerald's family was loaded, she had always had everything she needed exactly when she needed it. All she had to do was call up her daddy dearest, throw in a few "pleases" and tears, and she could be set for a good 6 months.

Emerald snapped her fingers to get Serena out of her trance, "Hello? Serena?" Emerald said.

"Wait a damned second." Serena snapped at her, getting off the couch to look down at her face.

"Why the hell don't you have any money Emerald?"

"I do have some money, but just not enough to live on for this month. You see Serena, I kind of blew most of my money that my dad gave me, on other things." Emerald said, looking away from Serena's unforgiving glare. Serena pondered what she had just said for a moment,

"What kinds of things did you spend all of his money on Emerald?" she said, trying to understand the situation.

"Well, you could call it necessities; I need these things, so it is justifiable to purchase them, no matter what the cost." Emerald looked at Serena with a strange face. Serena stepped back, thinking.

Just as she was about to ask another question, she heard muffled footsteps coming from the hallway, and to her dismay, Diamond was sauntering into the room wearing nothing but his boxer briefs and socks. She took one look at him and groaned. He was grinning from ear to ear, and his eyes were drooping sleepily. His overgrown white hair hung down over his eyes in a tangled mess. He was drunk.

"Hey baby," he said walking across the room towards Serena. "I haven't seen your fine ass in a while, where ya been hiding?" he whispered into her ear, placing his hands on the small of her back. He reeked of B.O and cheap whiskey, and she did NOT want him touching her like that. Serena was completely disgusted; she smacked his hands away, grabbing Emerald's arm and dragging her into her kitchen.

"Look Emerald, if you want me to even remotely consider helping you out, you're going to have to tell me what is going on, I don't know how you got into this mess. You haven't ever just ran out of money before, and if you did, you could always call your dad and he would send you more. Why can't you call him this time?" Serena was getting agitated.

"I did call him, but he wasn't happy with what I spent his money on, so he-" Serena cut her off. "What the hell did you spend the money on Emerald?"

Emerald looked at Serena nervously.

"This."

Emerald reached into her purse, pulling out what looked like white rocks in a plastic bag. Serena stared at the lumpy object in her hand, wondering what the hell Emerald had bought. Serena looked closer, and it hit her like a ton of bricks.

"EMERALD! What the FUCK is this?" Serena exclaimed, grabbing the bag of rocks, knowing all too well what it was, but she needed to hear her say it.

"Serena, you're acting like my dad! Calm yourself down. That is crack cocaine my friend, and these ones right here," she pulled four more bags of the same size from her purse. Serena gasped and held onto the countertop for some support.

"Are the ones I am going to sell," placing the four bags on the counter,

"And these here are for me, you, Diamond, Rubeus, Sapphire, Catzi, Avery, Bertie, and Prizma. You can smoke it with us because you'll help me out with the money for a while right?"

Emerald was smiling as she held the crack cocaine rocks in front of her face, and Serena was going completely crazy inside the head. She stared at Emerald as she continued to tell her ideas of becoming a drug dealer.

"I decided I wanted to try drug dealing because I dropped out of college, and it would be an easy way to make a living for myself, especially here in New York." she said with that same _stupid smile_ on her face.

Serena felt dizzy, this was a nightmare. Here she was, trying to make it through college in New York City, completely alone, with no one to turn to for support, and now the one person in her life who unknowingly had the power to make her or break her, was dangling crack in front of her face asking her to smoke it with her and her buddies.

"Serena?" Emerald asked quietly, noticing how pale she had turned all of a sudden. Serena's knuckles had turned white from gripping the life out of the counter, she was shaking. Serena had been angry before, oh yes, she had been angry many times, but this time was different. She looked up slowly, her sky blue eyes filled with rage.

"I don't know why I wasted so much time with trash like you Emerald." She said blatantly, pointing a slender finger at the woman's face. Emerald stepped back, angered.

"What the hell Serena, I thought you would love this, I mean, all you ever do is study, you could use a break!" Emerald reached out to touch Serena's arm and she jerked away from her.

"Hell yeah I could use a break; from you." Serena said to her, backing away. Emerald gasped and started backing away from Serena as well.

"Don't you _ever_ touch me again Emerald, do you understand? We are most certainly not friends now, and I don't think we were to begin with; you have always been so selfish. I feel stupid for putting up with your bullshit for the past two years of my life, and now we are through!"

Emerald was staring at Serena, mouth agape on the other side of the kitchen. Serena bolted through her kitchen door and into the living room to grab her keys, and then made her way outside. She was so heated by her anger; she didn't even feel the night air beating on her cheeks.

She climbed into her car, still shaking from rage, and drove off into the darkness.

*What do you guys think about the first chapter? What should I change? This is my very first FanFic so please be kind, please review. -MogoGiggler


	2. Neighbors

Surprising herself, Serena walked into the front door of her apartment with a huge smile on her face. She felt free. In the car she had replayed the argument in her head at least 15 times, at first she wanted to turn around and apologize to Emerald. But after considering how completely right she was about the woman and her selfish ways, she only drove home faster. Everything she had said had been true, and she didn't have anything to apologize for.

Serena stepped inside the front door of her apartment complex, quickly walking to the staircase. She was very thankful she only lived on the 3 floors up, whereas some of her classmates who lived here also, lived on the twelfth and thirteenth floors. Serena pulled open the door that led to her hallway, and was rummaging through her purse trying to find her keys. 'Oh, I hope I didn't leave them inside.' She thought to herself just as she was turning around the corner.

As soon as she took another step, her face made impact with something very hard,

"Oh!" Serena yelped as she began to fall backwards. She inhaled and winced; preparing for the pain she would feel in her skull after her impact with the cement floor. But surprisingly, that impact didn't come, something grabbed her by the shoulders just as she was about to hit the ground.

Serena opened one eye and saw that she was being held up by two very muscular, green sleeved arms. She followed the arms with her eyes up to the man's torso, covered by a thin black t-shirt and the rest of the jacket. Serena's heart did a back flip as she noticed the hard edged lines of muscles underneath the fabric. She gulped, looking up towards the man's face. Irritation was written all over his features, his mouth was formed into a grimace, and his thick eyebrows were furrowed into a frown. Serena could have cared less about his anger; she was only interested in looking at him holding onto her small frame; he was beautiful.

He had thick raven colored hair falling into his deep blue eyes; they were the color of the midnight sky. She ogled at his tanned skin and his strong jaw before realizing how awkward the situation must have been for this total stranger.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Serena stammered, trying to get back up on her feet. The man frowned, letting go of her shoulders.

"You should really watch out were you're walking meatball head." The man grumbled. Serena looked up at him, her jaw dropping. 'How rude!' she thought to herself.

"That was very rude of you, how dare you call me that! It's not like I ran into you on purpose." She said to the man, appaled that he had the nerve to insult her favorite hairstyle.

"Of course you didn't run into me on purpose meatball head, it's probably something you do a lot to everyone; you seem much more uncoordinated than the average person." The man said with an antagonizing smirk, straightening his jacket out and standing up to his full height.

"Ugh!" Serena yelled, getting up on her tip-toes to be face to chest with the conceited jerk. Just as she was about to throw out another insult, a strong female voice called out from behind the man.

"Darien, what is your issue? I haven't been here for a single day and you are already irritating the other tenants. Jesus Christ, just shut your mouth." Serena tore her angry gaze away from the aggravated 'Darien' and looked towards the direction of the voice.

"Hello, I'm Raye Hino, and this is my brother Darien, it's nice to meet you." The woman said, gesturing towards an irritated Darien and then walking around him to stand in front of Serena. "Sorry about him though, it's rare that he interacts with other human beings, so he forgets what it means to be polite." Raye said sarcastically, walking around Darien and she said smiling at her. Serena looked at her and laughed, she seemed very nice.

"Oh, that's okay, I'm sure he'll figure out how to act when he meets people eventually." Serena said, looking at the woman. Raye had the exact same hair and dark skin as Darien, and she was just as beautiful. Her bright, violet eyes that gave an almost magical quality to her personality. Her straight black hair fell loosely over her shoulders and over her back, reaching just below her calves. Her pretty red lips complemented her dark skin nicely; and when she laughed, a set of perfectly white teeth were exposed.

"It's nice to meet you Raye, I'm Serena Tsukino. I live in 260." Serena said. "Are you moving into 265?" Serena thought about how the apartment just across the hall and around the corner from her own and how it had been vacant for quite some time.

"Yes actually, I am just now on my way to bring the last of my things inside." She said.

"Do you need any extra help?" Serena asked her, having the strange and sudden urge to make this woman like her.

"That's what I'm here for actually, besides, you may drop it on your way up the stairs." Darien answered grumpily before Raye could make a sound. Serena glared at him, 'what a complete asswipe!' she thought.

"Darien!" Raye shouted before she smacked him on the back of the head.

"Hey!" he shouted back rubbing his head where she hit him. "I am so sorry about him Serena; he must be on his period or something." Raye said rolling her eyes. "I would actually love your help, there are about 6 more boxes left and with an extra person we could probably get it all in one trip." She said.

"Okay, I'd love to help." Serena said with a smile, she was beginning to like the idea of Raye becoming her new neighbor. They began their decent down the staircase and Serena decided she should get better acquainted with the siblings, well, better acquainted with Raye at least.

"So, how long have you guys been in here in the city?" Serena questioned gripping the handle on the side of the wall for support; she wanted to talk with Raye, but was not the best multi-tasker, and falling down the stairs would guarantee more insults from Darien.

"We actually grew up over in Saratoga Springs." Raye started out. "Darien moved here to get his medical degree at NYU about five years ago, and now I'm just transferring to finish up my degree in music, I want to become a music conductor for an orchestra or choir." Raye said smiling. Serena looked up at her, unaware that she was smiling so much that her cheeks were starting to turn pink.

"No kidding?" Serena said. "You probably have some of the same classes as me! I'm here to get a degree in music too, want to be a voice coach, and eventually work in the industry to help aspiring musicians." She giggled.

"That is so weird; I didn't expect to get to know someone who will be in my classes so soon!" Raye exlaimed, obviously very excited and relived. "Oh my goodness, I am really happy that I know somebody I can at least sit next to in class now." she finished with a grin even bigger than Serena's.

They stopped talking for a while as they grabbed the last of Raye's things from their U-Haul and lugged them up to her apartment. Shocking both herself and Darien, Serena made it all the way back up three staircases with two boxes in her arms without tripping, or dropping either box. She placed the boxes on the floor of Raye's apartment and grinned up at both of them triumphantly.

Raye giggled at her and then began telling Darien where to place the boxes he was holding. It didn't take very long at all for them to get into an argument. It was over something about how Darien called Raye's organization methods impractical. Serena just watched the two of them bicker back and forth, laughing at how close they obviously were.

Raye looked at Serena when she heard her laughter and giggled, a little embarassed. "We sound like damn fools don't we?" she put her hands on her hips and sighed, looking around the small living room completely filled with boxes. Her hair was wild, and her cheeks were sweaty from all the lifting and sliding of boxes she had done. Serena thought about how awful her hair buns must look, and hoped that the tangles wouldn't be too hard to brush out later.

Serena sighed, leaning her small body on the nearest wall. Raye stepped over some boxes, headed for the kitchen.

"I could really go for a drink right about now. Would you like something Serena?" Raye offered. "Sure, that would be nice." Serena said as she followed her into the kitchen.

"Help yourself." Raye said as she placed a 6 pack of Coors Light and Smirnoff Ice on the counter. She grabbed a Smirnoff ice, opening the cap with her hands, and taking a big gulp. "Thank you very much Raye. I was thirsty." Serena said leaning up against the wall. "No problem," she said, taking a drink of her own.

"What about you, my dear sweet brother?" Raye said, sarcasm dripping off of her every word. Darien walked in over the boxes and grabbed a beer and then backed away from the two girls and leaned against the refrigerator.

"Thank you, my beautiful, darling sister."He said frowning.

Raye laughed at him, and she took a drink of her Smirnoff. Serena giggled at their interaction before starting to talk to Raye again. The two girls exchanged more information, talking about various things from annoying professors and good places to eat around the city.

Darien stood quietly and watched them, noticing how well they were hitting it off with one another. He knew how rare it was for Raye to get close to people, especially as soon as she met them. He wondered what was different about the blonde woman that made his sister step out of her seclusion so soon.

He looked at her, just now taking the time to notice her attractive features. She was very pretty, he thought; she was short, about 5-3 or 5-4 maybe. He noticed the smooth, creamy colored skin covering her hand that was grasping her bottle. He looked at her shapely legs up to her slim torso continuing to her ridiculous hairstyle. He eyed the two meatball-like wads of hair stuck to either side of her skull, 'How could anyone wear that hairstyle in public?' he thought, shaking his head. He looked at the shimmery golden hair flowing out of the buns, almost spiraling down far enough to touch the floor.

'What am I doing?' Darien thought to himself. 'I'm sitting here, basically checking out a girl who is younger than me. I don't even know her, not to mention how annoying she is!' he felt like a total pervert.

Too busy being angry at himself he didn't notice the girls exchanging cell phone numbers and Serena grabbing her purse to leave.

"Yeah, I will call you for sure when I know when I can come and help you out. I know that it was a real pain in the ass for me to move in all by myself, and I could probably help you clean this place up too. No one has lived here for a while, so it may be in your best interest." Serena said, finding her keys in her hoodie pocket.

"Okay, thanks for all your help Serena, I really appreciate it." Raye said, opening the door for her. Serena looked at Darien, with one golden eyebrow arched.

"It was less than a pleasure meeting _you _Darien; I really do hope we won't run into each other too often." Serena said with venom in her voice.

"The feeling is mutual meatball head." Darien said frowning down at the angered blonde. Serena opened her mouth to shout something back at him, but Raye cut her off.

"Alright both of you, stop being so catty." Raye said smirking at them. "I'll see you soon Serena!" Raye called down the hallway. Serena waved as she walked away and turned the corner out of Raye's sight. She closed the door behind Serena and threw away the two empty Smirnoff bottles. She sat down on a box and looked up at Darien. He took another swig of his beer before sitting down on another box beside her.

"She is a really nice girl Darien, and I think we could become friends. Could you please try to act like less of a bitch when she's around?" Raye asked him, smiling at him in a condescending sort of way.

"Whatever. Just as long as she keeps her laughing under control, you two giggling gave me one hell of a headache." He said back to her.

"Hey, I can't help it that she's funny and has a loud laugh, okay? But we won't be bothering you very much anyway." Raye said as she tugged on his forearms making him stand up. "You need to get home too; you'll be exhausted tomorrow morning." Raye told him as she shoved him out the door. "Love you too sis." Darien called from the stairs. He heard her laugh before she slammed the door closed.

* * *

Serena yawned as she stepped into the shower. She ran her hands through her hair, rinsing out the products she used every morning. The warm water felt great on her skin, especially after getting sweaty from moving Raye's things.

Raye.

Serena thought about the beautiful dark haired woman she had met, and wondered what she was doing by talking to her so openly. She was so used to being by herself; she usually didn't care at all about what people thought of her. But tonight was different, she thought to herself. Serena found herself enjoying being around someone for once.

She felt happy with Raye, and she wanted to get to know her better. 'This is so weird.' Serena thought to herself. She couldn't believe how she responded to the woman. These feelings she had towards this woman were coming so naturally, she didn't have to pretend around Raye. When she laughed at something Raye said, it wasn't a fake laugh, and when she said she liked something Raye liked, she wasn't lying about it.

She thought they were becoming… friends.

She didn't have friends. She had co-workers and aquaintences, but not any real friends. She didn't want any; she didn't trust people. Friendships noever worked out for her, so she never made it a point to create them.

Serena thought about the past few friendships she had made and destroyed before she met Emerald. Most of the friends she had lost didn't really have a big effect on her, but there was one that stood out in her mind like a bright red light flashing inside her head.

Molly.

Serena felt the tears puddle inside her eyelids as soon as she thought of the name. Molly and Serena had been best friends from preschool through middle school; they knew each other so well it was creepy sometimes. Always spending their free time together; going to the park or the arcade, they were inseperable. Serena's eyes poured out her tears as she smiled sadly, reminiscing the memories. Serena had been there for Molly, and Molly had been there for her, in the darkest hours of their lives. They had promised each other that they would be best friends forever when they were little. They went thoough everything together, no ifs ands or buts about it.

When Molly's father died, Serena had stood next to her at the casket with her arm wrapped around her waist so she wouldn't fall down from grief. Serena's hands balled into fists as she remembered how she pushed Molly away from her when she herself was hurting and alone. Serena said many things to Molly she still regretted, she wished she could turn time back, to make Molly understand just how much she cared for her and how much she unknowingly needed her support.

Serena let out quiet sobs as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair. She knew she didn't need to think about this right now, and that she just needed to get out of the shower and get some sleep. But it was too late; she had already found the beginning of the scar.

It began just behind her left ear lobe. She followed the light pink line across her back, switching hands to continue to follow it down her right shoulder, underneath her right breast, and across her stomach. The line continued to wrap around her left leg, going in circles until it reached the bottom of her left foot and abruptly stopping.

Serena was weeping before she could finish the path of the scar, and she sat down in the tub, letting the water drench her skin further. She buried her face in her hands, wanting the horrible memories to leave her mind forever. She remembered the face. _His _face. Awful images ran through her mind like a twisted slide show.

After sitting in her bathtub for a while longer, Serena finally regained enough of her strength to stand up and shut off the water. She climbed out of the tub, wrapping her shivering body in a towel.

It was about one o' clock before she crawled into her soft bed. She sighed as she felt her cat, Luna, climb into bed with her. She looked at the small creature, Luna didn't have a care in the world, all she had to do was make sure she kept both her fur and claws clean every day.

She didn't have anything to worry about. Serena sat up to scratch her furry head, and Luna purred. "I love you too, Luna." Serena sighed as she lay back down on her pillow.

Serena closed her swollen eyelids, allowing her nightmares to consume the world around her.

*Review, dear readers, review. - MogoGiggler


	3. Drunk Brunettes

*Warning: this chapter is not for people under 18. -MogoGiggler

"_W-who are you?" she choked out, barely able to speak. She could feel the blood warming her skull, drenching her hair and the back of her head and neck. _

"_You can just call me, the Wiseman…" he told her, smiling in a sick, demented kind of way, pulling her broken body further into the dark alley._

_Sobbing harder, the salty tears burned her fresh cuts as they made their way down her face and neck._

"_Please, just please, s-stop, if you do, I-I won't tell anyone, I pro-" she couldn't finish her plead before a large fist slammed into her left cheek. She couldn't contain her screams of terror after he hit her over and over again. _

_She was going to die._

_The man caught her by the mouth, clamping it shut with his sweaty hand as he pulled a glistening knife out of his bag with the other. He leaned his hidden face into her ear and she cringed, tears mixing with the grime and blood covering her skin. _

"_Listen here you ugly cunt, I can make this experience much, _much, _worse for you, so I suggest that you keep that pretty little mouth of yours _shut_." He said as he ripped a piece of duct-tape off of a roll from his bag and slapped it onto her swollen lips._

_She thrashed her head in agony and sorrow as she felt the remnants of her disheveled skirt being rolled up to her pale, flat, stomach and her panties being cut in half with the glimmering knife. _

'_No…' her mind pleaded._

_He took hold of the collar on her white button down t-shirt and brutally ripped off the remaining buttons, exposing her small, blood-stained white bra._

_Again, the sick man took the knife and split the thin material in half down the center._

_Her small breasts were splotched with blood from the many cuts on her face and chest._

_More tears poured out of her terrified eyes, she couldn't understand why this had to happen to her. _

_What had she done?_

_Blood was everywhere, covering the asphalt beneath her as she lay motionless. The man had tied her wrists together behind her back. She couldn't move at all; her right leg was broken, as well as several of her ribs; with every single uneven breath she took, hot bolts of pain shot through her torso._

'_Why?' she screamed inside her brain._

_Her bloodshot eyes grew wider as she saw his hand holding the shiny knife just behind her left ear lobe. _

'_Please, dear God, no…' _

"_Your blood is such a pretty color of red, you know that my dear? It is as red as a rose…" he said just before roughly puncturing the sensitive flesh behind her ear. _

_Screams erupted from her throat, but no one could hear her._

* * *

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Serena sat bolt upright in her bed, gasping for air.

She whipped her head from side to side, golden hair flying, to scan the dark room with wide, glassy eyes. She finally realized where she was, and curled up into a tight ball on top of her pillows, in complete disarray from her thrashing in her sleep.

Tears soaked her cheeks, and her throat was hoarse from her bloodcurdling screams.

'Those fucking dreams…' she thought, slapping a shaking hand to her forehead vigorously.

Whimpering, she squeezed her tired eyes shut and decided to concentrate on her breathing. Her entire body was shaking violently against the mattress; it had scared Luna off the bed and into the living room. Serena took deep breaths, slowly relaxing her body until the tremors had almost completely stopped.

She opened her eyes after a few minutes of careful breathing and looked at the eerie blue glow of her alarm clock on her nightstand.

'3:41 AM Dec. 07'

She sighed, taking her head in her hands and running her weak fingers through her sweaty hair.

Her cell phone, weaved into the rosy-pink bed sheets, vibrated suddenly, nearly making Serena jump out of her skin. She looked at the caller I.D, groaning when she recognized her next door neighbors' telephone number. She opened the phone and answered sleepily.

"Hello?"

"Thank God, Serena!" An anxious male voice breathed on the other end of the line.

"Hello Melvin." Serena said quietly, annoyed and embarrassed at the same time.

"I am so glad you are okay, I know you have told me before about how you have nightmares sometimes, but I was about to come over there and break your door down!" he said.

Serena's irritation and embarrassment left her as she smiled, imagining Melvin attempting to break down her apartment door. He was so small; he couldn't possibly do anything but bruise himself if he made an attempt like that.

"Thank you for your concern Melvin, but yeah, I just had a nightmare. I am A-OK." Serena said, twisting her shivering body so that she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Well, okay. Just let me know if you need anything Serena, but otherwise I'm going back to sleep."

Serena felt terrible, "Yeah, Melvin, don't worry about me. I'm probably going to go ahead and get up anyway. I am really sorry I woke you; just get some more rest buddy."

"Alrighty. See you later Serena." He responded with a yawn.

'Alrighty'? Serena giggled to herself, he was a complete nerd.

"Bye Melvin." She said, and flipped her phone shut.

She thought about how nice he was, and how grateful she was for such a patient neighbor.

For the first year of college, Serena hadn't had a neighbor. Melvin had moved into the apartment next to hers at the beginning of her second year, and she knew that having a neighbor may be a problem. She had warned him about how she had awful nightmares, and how she, on occasion, woke up screaming bloody murder.

This was the fifth time she had woken him up since summer, always screaming her head off in her sleep; causing the poor young man to come and bang on her locked door once, pound on the wall separating their apartments another time, and even call their landlord on the last occurrence.

After that last rather unpleasant experience, Serena had given Melvin her phone number, insisting that he call her before doing anything else.

She was confused by the completely ecstatic expression that lit up Melvin's face when she gave him the small slip of paper with her phone number written on it, but she understood why he had been so excited when he had called her to ask her on a date the next weekend.

Serena politely declined him, not wanting to hurt his feelings. She told him she didn't date, but withheld the fact that if she did, she sure as hell wouldn't date someone who liked to have conversations about electron tunneling and crystallography over dinner.

Serena groaned as she stretched her legs and wiggled her toes. There was no point in trying to go back to sleep now, she wanted to forget about the dreams, the sick dreams that she had lived with for years. She decided she needed a cigarette, hoping that it would help her stop shaking.

Carrying her pack of Marlboro's, she walked out onto her balcony. She looked out into the city, taking in the bright lights and noisy sounds that made her feel alive, but lonely. New York was a strange place filled with strange people, and Serena figured she would fit in very nicely because of how odd she was. She sat down in a chilly wire chair and took a nice, long drag of her cigarette, she knew they were bad for her voice, but she didn't care, the helped her calm down.

After her shaking finally stopped, she got up and shuffled to the bathroom where she took a short shower and fixed her damp hair into its signature style. For the rest of the chilly morning and afternoon, Serena busied herself with homework and cleaning her apartment, and around 5:30, she got ready to head over to the Black Moon for her shift that lasted from 7-3.

"Stupid…..push-up…bras!" She grunted at she adjusted her friends on her chest to the uncomfortable squeezing. Her work 'uniform' consisted of a solid black, extremely low cut t-shirt with a silver crescent moon on it, a pair of super-tight, dark denim jeans, and high heels of any color she chose.

She hated her uniform with a passion.

It wasn't that she didn't look good in it, or that it wasn't comfortable, oh no, that was most certainly NOT the problem. The real reason she hated it was because she looked awesome in it, at least, that's what she had been told my several drunken perverts who sat at her bar every weekend. The outfit was chosen by Rita, her boss, for all the girls who worked at the night club to wear. Despite their conflicting tastes in clothing, Serena and Rita got along pretty well.

Serena double checked her purse to make sure she carried her pepper spray with her and left her apartment. She zipped her jacket up to her chin, feeling the icy winter air through the thin t-shirt.

The club was packed when she got there, it was barely dark enough to turn on your headlights, and already, the bouncer was having a hard time keeping everyone outside the velvet rope.

'That's strange… I wonder why so many people are here.' Serena thought as her golden eyebrows furrowed.

'Oh! I remember; it's karaoke night.' She scanned the crowd, the regulars were there, but there were plenty of new excited faces in the huge row of people.

Work seemed to go on forever, drink after drink after drink. No one was brave enough to order anything exciting anyway. She gave out plenty of beers, a couple glasses of wine, a dirty martini here and there, and one guy had been brave enough to ask for a few turbo shots. She sighed and leaned her back against the counter, waiting impatiently for her 5 minute break.

She stood close to the door of the bar during her break; smoking her cigarette and watching at the woman on stage sing her little heart out. Serena shook her head as she thought of all the posture and vowel mistakes the woman was unknowingly making, she sounded awful.

As the end of the song approached, Rita stepped onto the stage and took the mic and thanked everyone for coming. Serena watched as the perverts directly in front of the stage whistle at Rita while she spoke. Serena rolled her eyes as Rita giggled girlishly at the men.

You would have never been able to tell that she ran and owned the club; she acted like one of the college girls who came to the there on weekends to get shitfaced. Always giggling, and almost always buzzed on something. She was an awesome boss though, flexible and friendly.

Serena finished her cigarette and started back to the bar when she heard her name called over the microphone.

'Oh God...' She thought, slowing to a stop and turning around to face Rita on the stage.

"Come on up here Serena!" she heard Rita coaxing into the microphone.

"All of you guys out there know Serena," she said turning to the audience, "but I bet you didn't know she could sing like a friggin' angel."

'She wants me to fucking sing. Damn.' She thought; feeling eyes on her back as she neared the dimly lit stage. Rita was a really nice woman, and a great boss, but she annoyed the hell out of Serena when it came to compliments on her voice.

Serena slowly made her way up the glowing stairs, and onto the stage, careful not to trip and fall. Rita smiled at her and handed her the mic.

"I better be getting something extra for this…" Serena said as she took the mic and plastered a huge fake smile on her face.

"Don't worry, you will, just sing something that will calm them down a little." Rita said as she walked off. Serena sighed, taking her place underneath the spotlight; she looked out into the audience of college students all having a great time just being young.

"Does anybody have a request?" Serena asked, a little bit of her irritation leaking into her voice.

"Sing some Queen!"

"Paramore!"

"Country!"

"Rap!"

She made a disgusted face at that last one, and the audience laughed. After a minute or two of awful suggestions, a woman sitting at a table near the bar with a cocktail glass in her hand had called out, "Sing some Evanescence, Blondie."

Serena had heard a few of their songs, and thought she would give it a try, it couldn't be too bad, and it certainly wasn't rap. Serena walked to the karaoke machine projector and picked the first of their songs that she saw, which happened to be called "Hello".

The lights on the stage dimmed further, leaving Serena alone with an eerie blue aura surrounding her small body. Serena opened her mouth and let out a beautiful note, and she could see a couple of women standing in the front of the stage with their eyes as wide as saucers.

Serena never once got nervous on stage, she knew that because of her love for singing, she wouldn't sound bad, or mess up. The feeling of singing was so relaxing; it made her feel like she was the only person in the whole world. The only things that mattered were her, and the sounds coming out of her mouth. People clapped for her when she sang a higher note that tested her cords, and she thought about how singing was really the best thing in her life, and how she wouldn't ever let it go.

The song ended entirely too fast, and the lights shined brighter, illuminating the happy faces of the audience members. Serena snapped out of her trance from the music, and her jaw dropped. Most of the people had stood up to give her a standing ovation, and the woman who suggested the song was crying. Serena backed away from the mic, bowing timidly as she stepped into the darkness and got closer to the bar. People patted her on the back and smiled at her as she walked, and it made her feel like a hundred bucks. She was smiling to herself as she stepped into the bar; nothing put her in a good mood like singing did. She wiped down the counter with a rag and she didn't notice a young, tall, very pretty brunette sit down on a barstool.

"Oh!" Serena said as her eyes shot completely open. "I didn't see you there. What would you like?" She said with a tired smile, flinging the rag over her shoulder.

The brown haired woman lifted her head up and gave a weak grimace back. Upon seeing her face, Serena recognized her as the one who requested the song she had sang. The woman's hair put into a messy ponytail, and her eyes were glassy as she gave a once over to the bottles behind Serena. The woman grabbed her wallet out of her purse with a twitchy hand and threw a five dollar bill onto the glass counter.

"Just give me another dirty martini please," she said, taking her head in her hands and massaging her temples. She wasn't drunk yet, but with a couple more of those she would be.

"How dirty do you want it?" Serena asked as she grabbed the jar of olives.

"Make it filthy." She said, her hands falling in front of her onto the bar, a look of defeat written on her face.

Serena made her drink and sat it in front of her, eyeing her cautiously, hoping she was going to be okay; other customers weren't fond of drunken people ranting and raving at the bar.

"Just curious," she heard the woman's raspy but feminine voice say. "But how'd you learn to sing like that?" she asked Serena, her words slightly slurred. Serena blushed; she didn't like to feel like she was bragging because she was telling the truth.

"This is going to sound a little conceited," Serena started out, pouring some rum on the rocks for another customer. "I have always been a good singer, or, that's what people have always told me. Ever since I was a young girl." Serena smiled as she remembered singing "Jesus Loves Me" at her fourth grade talent show, she had gotten made fun of, but it was worth it.

"I love to sing, it's kinda my thing." Serena said absentmindedly, putting bottles back onto the mahogany shelves. The woman grunted in response before taking a sip of her martini. Serena turned around, a little concerned about the tough looking young woman sitting in front of her.

"You here with anybody?" Serena asked, wondering how she was going to get herself home. The woman slowly looked up at Serena, her massive brown eyes filling with tears. Her teeth popped out her mouth to bite down on her lower lip.

"No." she whispered.

Serena didn't know what to do, the woman's hands balled up into fists and her face started to turn red. Before Serena could say anything, tears were steaming out of her eyes.

"Here we go…" Serena said, franticly glancing around at the customers, and trying to console the woman before her sobs got any louder.

"My boyfriend broke up with me!" she sobbed quietly, muffling her mouth with a sleeved arm. This was precisely what Serena _didn't _want to happen, a few of her other customers looked at the girls awkwardly and left the bar with their drinks.

'Damn.' Serena thought, grabbing a pack of tissues out of her purse for the woman, who was very upset. This was one of the reasons why Serena didn't date; someone always got hurt in the end. Serena just watched the woman cry and apologize for doing so, as she told her somewhat pathetic tale of her boyfriend. The woman was totally drunk by the end of her story, having threatened Serena into fixing her 3 more martinis.

It was around 2:15 when the woman wobbled off of her stool and decided to grab a taxi. Serena watched from the bar as she wobbled out onto the sidewalk, holding onto the brick wall for support. She couldn't help but feel sorry for her. The woman's boyfriend, "Tom", had apparently walked out on her last week; leaving her for another woman. The woman had been so upset because they were engaged and everything, they had even been living together. But the real kicker to the story was that the woman he left her for was one of her closest friends. Serena had just listened to her rant, giving the occasional nod while tending to the other customers.

'Thank God.' Serena thought when she looked at her watch; she only had thirty minutes left in her shift. She yawned, looking around she saw that the number of people in the club had decreased significantly. It was odd how people wanted to go home and spend time with their families earlier in the wintertime; maybe it was because of Christmas. Serena wouldn't know; she didn't have much of a family, and no friends, so she never celebrated Christmas. Her mother would send her a little something every year, but that was it.

Serena looked out the glass doors, watching the miniscule white flecks float down to the ground and settle softly on the cement.

'That is going to be a pain in the ass to walk across once it melts and refreezes.' Serena thought, never passing up an opportunity to be negative.

The lightly falling snow was disrupted by a blotch of dark green fabric making its way across the sidewalk. Serena squinted to see what it was. It was that woman from earlier, it had been at least fifteen minutes since she left, she should have been long gone. She was still out there in that freezing cold weather looking for a cab, she was too drunk to walk in a straight line, and she probably hadn't been coordinated enough to stick her arm up in the air to wave a cab down. Serena sighed, wondering why she was about to do this.

"Rita!" Serena called from the end of the bar, waving her hand in the air towards the back of the club.

Rita walked over, only a little buzzed tonight, Serena noticed.

"What's up Serena?" She asked, running her hand thorough her tangled chestnut hair.

"I was just going to let you know that I'm gunna head out of here early tonight, you see that idiot out there?" Serena said, pointing to the woman, still stumbling around in the snow, slipping just as she would regain her balance from the last fall.

"Yeah." Rita said, looking at the woman outside with pity.

"I think I'm going to drive her home, she'll freeze to death out there, not that it's that big of a deal to me, considering she ran all the other customers off. It would make the club look bad however; we can't just have frozen dead bodies outside our nightclub now can we Rita?" Serena said sarcastically as she grabbed her purse and keys.

Rita laughed, "Good thinking kid, I'm glad you've got my back." She said.

"Okay, I'll see you Friday Rita, and I'll put in my last thirty minutes then." Serena said as she walked out the door.

"Don't worry about it sweet cheeks, I owe you for singing tonight anyway, see ya!!" Rita yelled before the door closed.

Zipping up her coat, Serena walked out into the snow covered streets.

Serena let out a grunt of agitation as a snowflake landed squarely in her right eye. She looked around the sea of sidewalk, looking for the green outfitted woman. She was leaned back against a wall of the nightclub; trying not to fall down again it looked like. Serena walked over to her carefully, not wanting to fall down in the ridiculously tall heels.

"Hey." Serena called as she waved her arm at the woman.

"Heeeeey….. I know you…" she replied, hiccupping and looking at Serena with a lopsided smile.

"Yes you do, just like I know you can't get a cab slipping around like you've been doing, so I'm going to take you home." Serena sighed, feeling dumb for trying to talk reasonably with this shitfaced, complete stranger.

"I can toooo get a *hiccup* cab, you just watch and learn." She started out, walking away from the wall.

"TAXIIIIII!!" she shouted, killing Serena's ears. She threw her arm in the air with way to much force, and before she knew it, she was falling. Serena grabbed her by her arm and stomach before she landed face first in the snow.

"Right. I better get you home." Serena said as she helped her walk to her car.

She slid inside without complaint this time, laying her head back and rubbing her temples like she had in the bar.

Serena started the car and asked her, "So, where do you live?"

"I live in a really pretty apartment," she replied putting her hands on her cheeks and looking at Serena with an entranced look on her face. Serena just looked at her, after years of working at a bar; she was still astounded by the way people acted when they were drunk.

Eventually she did give Serena her address, but not without threatening to hit her a couple of times. Serena drove her to her house in silence, thinking about why she cared about this woman anyway. Maybe it had something to do with the sad song she had requested her to sing, or maybe her story had made her feel sorry for her.

Serena never really acted this… human, towards just anyone. She usually just ignored everyone else.

"Hey, I forgot your *hiccup* name, wha-what was it again?" the woman said as the red car pulled into the drive.

Serena looked at her, "I'm Serena Tsukino. I never caught yours either."

The woman threw her head back and laughed at herself, hiccupping several times in the process.

"I'm Lita, Lita *hiccup* Kino." She said, still giggling at herself as she wiggled her way out of the seatbelt Serena had securely strapped over her.

"You are just so generous Ser-Ee-Naah." Lita said, annoyingly putting emphasis on each syllable of her name.

"You have the best voice, and you make great dirty martinis!!!" She continued drunkenly.

Serena waited patiently for her to get out of the car, listening to her final rant.

"Hope- *hiccup* fully I we can meet up again sometime, I'm real lucky to have a friend like you to escort me around." She laughed hysterically at her bad joke and stumbled away after slamming the car door closed.

Serena looked at where Lita had sat like it was on fire. She was confused.

Since when did she give complete strangers rides?

Since when was she… _generous_??

Serena slapped her hand to her head, stunned by herself once again.

'It's gotta be this cold weather.' She thought, pulling out of Lita's driveway.

She grabbed the last cigarette out her pack and rolled down her car window. As she did this, a single snowflake made its way through the small opening into her car, and slammed into her left eye.

"Yep. It's this fucking weather." She breathed.

*I am very sorry about the wait, my dear readers. I would greatly appreciate even more reviews from you. I'm not sure whether to keep this chapter or redo it completely. Tell me your opinion please.

-MogoGiggler


	4. Rats

"You know, I've seen plenty of dirty places and rooms, but this is one really takes the cake." Raye said as she got on her knees to scrub the cabinet underneath her bathroom sink.

Serena stood from her crouched position on the bedroom floor and stretched her fingers, wiping a little bit of sweat from her forehead.

"You're right; this place is nasty as hell." Serena said, glancing into the miniscule bathroom. She put her hands on her hips and sighed.

"No offense." Serena said quickly, hoping that her thoughtless statement hadn't made her upset.

"None taken." She grunted in response, giggling a bit, while spraying more cleaner on her filthy rag. Serena sighed with relief; she wasn't the type of person who watched out for people's feelings, or at least, she wasn't anymore. However, she didn't want to hurt Raye's feelings, because she and Raye had been having a surprisingly great time with one another.

Serena had brought every single bottle of polish, spray, foam, or soap that she had owned; fully intent on making sure Raye's apartment smelled and looked nice. She was still confused by the feelings she had towards this woman, but she shoved them to the back of her mind.

"EWWW!" Raye exclaimed abruptly, causing Serena to drop her rag and whip around in her direction.

Raye shuffled her way to the farthest corner of the bathroom as her face paled and she covered her mouth with her hand.

"What is it?" Serena said, walking over to the cabinet with slow, careful steps. Raye looked like she was about to hurl, she sat there and shook her head at Serena with glassy eyes. Serena gulped and peered into the corner of the cabinet.

All she could see was a large, grayish-brown lump sitting there. Nothing was moving, until she looked closer. There were tiny little black dots swarming over the lump, and an awful stench was emitting from the corner where it sat.

"Oh God, that is awful!" Serena stated quickly, backing up as Raye had. The lump in the corner was a dead rat carcass. The girls looked at one another, both trying to keep the contents of their stomachs in place.

"I wonder how long that has been in there." Raye said; her words muffled into her palm.

Serena cringed at the thought, "I don't want to know... " She responded. After a few minutes of silence between them, Raye spoke.

"I can't just leave that thing in there. Someone has to get it out."

Serena gulped; she knew she couldn't possibly get it out without throwing up everywhere. She hated rats, mice, gerbils, hamsters, and even squirrels. That was part of the reason she had Luna.

"I would try to get it out, but I know I would get sick everywhere." Serena said with a disgusted look on her face, trying to fan the smell that was leaking into the room with her hands.

"Me too, I can't handle rodents." Raye said standing up. The girls left the room pondering.

"I know! I'll call Darien!" Raye said with a smile of relief. Serena internally groaned because she was still pretty pissed about how rude he was to her the first time they met.

"Oh. Are you sure you want to do that? He may be busy…" Serena said, trying to think of an alternative solution to their problem.

Raye laughed, "Oh, I don't think he's busy today." She was totally oblivious; Serena sighed. "And even if he was, he's pretty much whipped into shape by me anyway." She said with a wink. She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and started to dial his number. Serena started bit down on her bottom lip, a habit she had acquired from years of handling stressful situations. She wasn't ready to see that jerk again.

'Okay Serena, which one is worse; rotting rat carcasses, or Darien.' She thought to herself while Raye chatted on the phone.

'Definitely Darien.'

Serena looked at Raye, she was getting agitated at Darien again it seemed like. He probably _was_ busy, and Raye was probably going to take a few more minutes to convince him to come and help. This was Serena's chance!

'I'll get it out myself! I can handle it if it means I won't have to see Darien.' Serena thought. She immediately stated walking towards the bathroom.

She took at least half of the roll of the roll of toilet paper to cover her hand and prepared herself mentally for the rat removal. She got down on all fours next to the cabinet and took a deep breath before reaching inside the small opening.

Slowly, she grabbed the offensive lump, and began to drag it towards the garbage can she had prepared. Her face turned pale, and before she knew what she was doing, she threw up into the garbage can.

'Why the hell did I think I could do this?' she thought to herself, trying to avoid from breathing too much. She couldn't just stop and leave it in the middle of the cabinet, and she knew she couldn't continue.

"Damn it." She said blatantly.

* * *

"If you weren't so completely and totally helpless Raye, I could be studying right now." Darien spoke into his cell phone with a curt voice.

"Darien, you study too much anyway. It will only be a minute, just come and help me." Raye said in response, and hung up on Darien just before he could get another word in.

"The things I do for that brat…" Darien said as he neared her apartment complex.

He pulled his red Ferrari into the parking lot. He jogged up the stairs and finally reached Raye's door and knocked. After a few seconds, he heard the shuffling of feet coming towards the door. It opened, revealing two angry, dark blue eyes peering at him. Raye let him inside as an annoyed frown wrinkled her forehead.

"You know, we're dealing with a festering, rotting, grotesque rat carcass here; you should have been here sooner." Raye said as she led him through the still box-filled apartment. Darien's frown grew at little bigger as he sighed and dodged boxes she was moving out of the way for him. He wondered why none of the boxes were unpacked, as she had been living there for almost a week.

"Wasn't that Serena girl supposed to come and help you clean up this place and stuff?" Darien asked, surveying the interior of the apartment. Raye slapped her hand to her head; she forgot to tell him Serena was here.

"Actually, Serena's here too, and we were cleaning when we found it." Raye told him, grabbing a small box from inside a bigger one.

"Now," she started, pulling a pair of latex gloves out of the box, "go get that rat for us. I need to go find Serena."

Darien grabbed the gloves grumpily, and took long strides towards the bathroom. He stopped when he saw that the door was closed, and he knocked on it softly. He heard staggered breathing coming from inside. 'Hmmm' he thought. 'That must be the meatball. I wonder what she's doing…'

After a few more minutes, he gently pushed the door open a bit. Serena heard the door open, but didn't glance up.

"You can come in Raye, oh, and you don't have to call you brother. I know I can get this damned thing out." The small figure said with a slight shiver. It was Serena, Darien realized, pale skinned with her ass up in the air, reaching into the cabinet with a trembling right arm. Her hair snaked its way all over the small bathroom floor, and there wasn't anything to look at except her blue jean clad ass. Darien just smirked, and looked down; knowing how angry she would be when she realized he was here. He decided to keep his mouth shut because of the awkwardness of the situation.

Serena was determined to get that rat out of the cabinet, Darien wouldn't have to come over, and nothing would ruin pleasant day with Raye. Serena reached into the cabinet one more time, holding her breath. She picked up the rat, and groaned because of how squishy it felt.

Darien felt this was the perfect time to say something.

"It looks like you're having a little bit of trouble with that, meatball head." He said, beginning to smile at little at the way she looked.

Serena's head shot up when she heard his deep voice, and she ended up ramming her head into the top of the cabinet. Darien heard the crack of her head hitting the wood and winced; that had to hurt.

"AHH!" Serena yelped from both pain and surprise. She clutched the back of her head as her vision started to blur. Her back hit the cold tile floor and her hair went everywhere, practically filling up the small bathroom.

She felt herself get a little nauseated, and she rolled over, still clutching the back of her head. Mumbled curse words flew out of her mouth as her eyes watered and she tried to hold back her tears.

"Meatball head! Are you okay?"Darien asked with irritation and legitimate concern leaking into his voice as he knelt down to help her sit up. But Serena wasn't ready for that; she was pissed.

"Get off me you conceited jerk!" she said, shaking his arms off of her own. She glared up at him as she rubbed the back of her head gently.

"Jesus," he stated as he stepped back, "I was just trying to make sure you were okay." He said, getting more agitated with the tiny blonde by the second.

"Like you would care if I was okay or not Darien." Serena said with a huff. She stood up and felt exceedingly dizzy, the room was spinning. She felt her knees giving out on her, and she began to fall. Before she could grasp the counter for support, Darien's strong, large hands grabbed her forearms to help her stay upright.

Serena frowned at the tile floor. 'Why am I always falling down when I'm near him?' Serena thought to herself as she regained her balance. She tried to free herself from his iron grasp, but he held on tight.

"I think you should sit down for a while, meatball." Darien said, not wanting to get in trouble with Raye for letting Serena hurt herself. He halfway dragged her dizzy body into the kitchen to sit down.

Serena felt like crying. She threw up twice trying to get a rotten rat out of a cabinet, gave herself a concussion, fell down – again; and in the end, she had to see Darien anyway. The room was still spinning, but she could make out Raye's outline as she walked towards them quickly.

"What happened here?" Raye said with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised in a questioning kind of way. Serena slowly turned her head towards the angry woman.

"I thought I could get the rat by myself so you wouldn't have to bring this idiot in here. It's his fault I'm hurt, he scared me on purpose!" Serena whined as she glared at an annoyed Darien.

"I accidentally scared her, and she hit her head on the top of the cabinet. My most sincere apologies to both of you." Darien said to his angry sister. She had a very, _very_ bad temper; she looked like she was going to choke him.

Serena had picked up on this detail early this morning; she had tripped and almost broken one of Raye's special glass charms that supposedly gave people good luck. Ray had been very stern, and raised her voice at her, but didn't dwell on what had happened. Serena watched as Raye got up in Darien's face and yelled at him for being so rude, and again, even when she was in pain, Serena giggled at their interaction.

"It's going to be just fine Raye, cool down. I'm just dizzy and I'm sure that will go away in a few minutes." Serena said, letting Darien relax just a bit before Raye could say anything else to him. However, Raye continued to glare at him; causing him to look uncomfortable, and maybe even the tiniest bit scared.

"Let me just go get you some ice for that." Raye said as she sped walked into the kitchen. Serena could feel a bump forming at the soft part of the back of her neck. 'What a klutz I am, how embarrassing was that…' She thought to herself as she waited rather impatiently for her ice from Raye. Serena felt eyes on her and glanced up to a frowning Darien.

"You know meatball, I was going to come over here even if you did get the rat out. I had some stuff I needed to return to Raye, so you did this to yourself if you really think about it." He said with a sarcastic grin. Serena felt her face flush pink with anger; this guy knew just what buttons to press.

"I don't even know you! You act like such a jerk to me every time you see me, can't you go ruin someone else's day?" Serena said, her voice rising in pitch. Darien let out a laugh, and Serena momentarily forgot her anger when she saw his handsome smile.

"I would, but I think it's a lot more fun ruining yours; because your reactions are the best." Darien said as he stood up and removed his jacket. His muscles were again hidden underneath a thin t-shirt, but visible enough to Serena to make her mouth water.

Perfect teeth, dark lips, gorgeous eyes; yeah, she really hated this guy… a lot. Serena gulped as she tried to clear her mind of his exquisite features.

'What am I doing? Get a hold of your hormones Serena.'

Serena looked down as she felt her face flush a deeper shade of pink; she wanted Darien gone, as soon as possible.

Darien continued to look at the somewhat flustered blonde, and he couldn't help but notice her beautiful face. Her skin on her cheeks had turned the loveliest shade of pink, and that brought his attention up to her stunning eyes; although she was frowning, they were still captivating. They were an innocent shade of sky blue, and were still glassy from her tears. He looked down at her full, pink lips. They were turned downwards into an adorable pout that made him smile. He let out a soft sigh as he thought about how soft they looked. Darien found himself wanting to reach out and touch them with his fingers; just to see how they felt against his skin. Serena heard him sigh and glanced up towards him again with a questioning, irritated look on her face.

'What are you doing? You can't just look at the first girl who hasn't thrown herself at you in the last 5 years like that, Darien.' he thought to himself as he looked at his feet, embarrassed. He hoped she hadn't seen him staring at her, he had been practically drooling.

'He is probably looking to see what else about me he can make fun of." Serena thought smugly to herself before she looked away from him. 'He really should find something better to do with his time.'

Raye hurried back with the ice, and insisted on inspecting and nursing the growing lump on her head. She poked and prodded at the tender skin just a bit too hard, and Serena groaned in pain. Darien sat in his chair quietly as he observed his sister jabbing the back of Serena's neck. Raye was getting frustrated with herself, and felt bad when Serena winced in pain after each touch.

"Let Darien look at it Serena, he's in college to become a doctor, he'll see what you should do." Raye said with a smile. Serena gulped. Today had been going so well; she had really been having a nice time, even if they were cleaning. Then Darien had to show up and ruin it all.

"It's okay really, It's just sore now." Serena said as she turned around to face Raye. Darien withheld a chuckle as she saw the look of sheer terror cross her face at the idea of him looking at her wound. He knew he was an asshole most of the time, but he wasn't _that _bad. He got up from his seat and slowly made his way to hers.

"Darien its fine, I promise." Serena said, covering her injury with her hands.

"Stop being so stubborn meatball, you could have a concussion. I could be bad if it is left untreated. I'm just going to look…" Darien said as he tugged Serena's hands off of her neck. She let out an angry 'humph' and curtly crossed her arms over her chest. Darien bent down and got closer to the nape of her neck as examined the greenish-blue lump that was causing her so much pain.

Serena squeezed her eyes shut as she prepared for the sharp pain in her head again, her shoulders stiffened. Darien gently pushed them downward and placed her hair over both of her shoulders. Her eyes began to relax as she barely felt his fingers move on her skin; it was almost ticklish. It made the throbbing pain subside just a little. Darien was finding it very hard to pay attention to what he was doing. The floral scent of her shampoo enveloped his face and took over his mind.

'What is that?' he thought to himself, 'Roses? Lilies? Cherry Blossoms?' he couldn't quite place the sweet musk emitting from her thick tresses, and was about to ask her when he realized what a crazy idea that was.

'What is wrong with me today?' he thought to himself again as he tried to clear his thoughts. Darien focused on the purple and red wound, and that was when he noticed something. There was a thick, dark pink line starting from her left ear that shot diagonally to the right, until it disappeared under her shirt.

'Hmm. I wonder what happened.' Darien thought curiously as to how someone would get such a scar in such an unusual place.

He felt her skin, and asked her where it hurt exactly.

"Right there, yeah, up some. Ouch." Serena said, another pained expression painted on her face.

"Are you still dizzy? Nauseated? How do you feel?" Darien said as he removed his hands from her neck and stood up straight. Serena wanted to tell him that she felt better when he rubbed her neck like he had earlier; but that was ridiculous. She reassured herself that she hated the doctor-to-be, and wanted his hands off of her.

"Umm. I feel dizzy still, and yeah; just a tiny bit nauseous." Serena answered as she slowly stood up, with Raye at her side, helping her. Serena looked at Darien and waited for his "diagnosis".

"Well? Dr. Shields? Do I have a concussion or what?" Serena asked him sarcastically. Darien's eyebrows furrowed at her tone, she really got under his skin.

"Well Serena, it looks like you have given yourself a mild concussion. I suggest that you take it easy for the rest of the day, and keep ice on that bump." Darien said as he grabbed the gloves Raye had given him earlier. Raye had a worried look on her face as she gave Serena a once over.

"Are you sure you're okay? I'm really sorry that happened." Raye said as she handed Serena the bag of ice. Serena smiled at her; it was comforting to know that someone was legitimately concerned with how she felt. She watched as Darien rolled his eyes and made his way towards the bathroom.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now. Thanks for the ice Raye." Serena said. A few minutes later, a pale-faced Darien walked out of the bathroom with a sack in his hand. Serena laughed at the expression on his face.

"It looks like you had a little bit of trouble with that, Darien." Serena quoted him from earlier as she smiled victoriously. He glared at her in return, stopping himself from taking the dead rat from the garbage and hurling it at her head. Serena laughed and turned towards Raye.

"Darien I simply cannot thank you enough for removing that vermin! You are heaven sent!" Raye said dramatically as he removed the gloves and went to wash his hands. All of a sudden, Serena's stomach growled; embarrassing her. Raye giggled, and Darien's face formed into a grimace.

"It sounds like I'm not the only one who is starving," Raye said as she grabbed her car keys of the counter. "Let's go grab something to eat. You can come to Darien; it's on me, to thank you for the 'removal'." Raye said with a smile.

Serena and Darien both opened their mouths to protest but Raye stopped them.

"Oh come on you two, can't you just get along with each other long enough to grab a bite?" Raye asked in an irritated voice as she threw her hands up in the air, expecting an answer from one of them. Darien and Serena exchanged a quick glare. Darien was the first to speak.

"I suppose I could handle meatball head for a little while longer. I am hungry." Darien said, still frowning.

Serena angrily stuck her tongue out at him in response, making him sigh and rub his forehead in annoyance. Ray giggled and grabbed both of their arms to drag them out the apartment door.

The car ride was very interesting to say the least. There were several arguments over where to eat, usually between Darien and Serena. They finally decided on one of Raye's favorite places to eat, a pretty "posh" bistro on the Upper West Side where she knew a waitress who worked that could give her a great deal. The group walked in together, Darien grumpily following a chattering Raye and a quiet Serena from behind.

As soon as the three stepped inside the door, they heard a shriek from the far corner of the room. Serena jumped as she whipped her head around in the direction of the squeal.

A confused look formed on Serena's face; she thought she was looking into a mirror.

Running towards them was a giggling woman who looked about their age, who could have been a clone of Serena. Her platinum blonde hair was flying behind her as she skipped across the dining room, attracting plenty of attention from the other customers. She was still beaming with an excited look on her face as she slammed to a halt.

"Raye, my dear!" the blonde exclaimed as she threw her arms around the laughing woman. They hugged for a while before the attractive woman started to giggle again. Serena stood and watched in complete surprise.

'Oh my…' Serena thought, as she saw the bubbly woman jumping up and down in front of Raye, who was still cracking up from the silly hug. Serena looked at the extremely excited woman, again noticing their similar qualities. The woman had beautiful blue eyes, and a great body; she had to be an athlete with biceps like those. Her hair, that was much lighter than Serena's golden tresses, was partially pulled up by a big green bow while the rest fell loosely over her shoulders reaching to her mid-calves; about the same length as Raye's.

The girl turned to Serena with a big smile plastered on her face. Serena couldn't help but smile back; even though she didn't know the woman, she could feel the sincerity rolling off of her in waves.

"Hi! My name is Mina, what's yours?" she asked as she turned her whole body towards Serena, took her hands and shook them vigorously. Serena started to laugh, and it took a minute to answer her.

"My name is Serena, nice to meet you Mina." Serena said, still giggling. Mina kept smiling as she led the three to their table.

"This is the girl I was talking about if you hadn't guessed. I've known her for years, and she is the friendliest waitress I have ever met to say the least." Raye said, as Mina grabbed their menus.

Mina was very talkative, and it took at least 15 minutes to place their order; much to Darien's dismay. He didn't want to be stuck in a lousy restaurant with three chattering women on a Saturday afternoon; or any afternoon for that matter. He sighed and looked at his cell phone to see the time.

"2:29 PM" He sighed again, this time frowning.

'Ugh, there is always something bothering him. What a grump; I wish he would just leave.' Serena thought to herself.

"Is there somewhere you need to be Darien?" Serena asked him, with her arms folded over her chest. "Because if that's the case, I certainly don't mind if you leave." She finished with a satisfied grin on her face. Darien rolled his eyes and took a drink of his water before he said anything.

"You know Serena; I do have somewhere to be at 3:15. I am going to a study session to learn more about brain diseases and read these really cool things called books. Have you heard of books? They are really interesting, but I hear blondes have a tough time reading them, so I might be nice and buy you one with pictures in it. Yeah, that will be your Christmas gift." He said smiling.

He could tell he had made her mad by the look on her face, which only made his smile bigger.

Serena was infuriated! She felt her whole face get red from anger, and her hands started to shake. 'How dare he? Blonde jokes are pathetic!' She screamed inside her brain.

"Shut up Darien! You are always studying, and you're just jealous of Serena because she has a social life and you don't!" Mina said in Serena's defense. Serena looked at the blonde woman in surprise; she didn't have to stick up for her like that.

"Be quiet Mina. I'm still hungry, so why are you still talking instead of doing your job?" He asked her before pulling out his stylus and tapping away at his phone. Mina gave him the bird before turning to smile at Serena again.

"Us blondes gotta watch out for each other!" she said with a wink, before skipping away to go place their orders. Serena watched over her shoulder as other waiters and customers dogged the excited woman skipping between tables. Serena shook her head and laughed.

"She is the definition of insanity." Raye said as she sipped on her coke. Serena smiled and thought about the woman. She was funny, beautiful, independent, and… happy. Serena decided that she liked her, and wanted to get to know her better.

'Something is happening to me.' Serena decided as she thought about Raye, and this new Mina girl, and even Lita from the bar.' Serena bit down on her bottom lip as she contemplated how she should respond to these people suddenly making such as huge impact in her life.

"I'm going to the ladies room, I'll be right back." Raye said as she easily slid out of the booth. Darien and Serena were left there alone, and neither of them knew what to say. Serena bit down on her bottom lip as Darien glanced at his watch again to see the time. Even though he had explained his study group issues, Serena still felt that _she_ was the reason for his grumpiness. She gulped.

"I was serious earlier, if you don't want to be late to your study group, you can go. I mean, it's not like I'm giving you permission, it's just that…" Serena's brow furrowed as she tried to finish her sentence with something that at least made sense. Darien's frown left his face and he smirked at her.

"Don't worry about it meatball. If I had wanted to leave I would've already been gone." He said as he took a gulp of his coke.

"So, when do you graduate?" Serena asked him as she mindlessly looked at a small piece of his hair that fell just over his left eye.

"This May." He said. Serena noted that he wasn't much of a talker, every time she would try to get a conversation going, he would end it as quickly as he could.

Serena nodded slowly. "That's good. I'm sure you'll be relived." She glanced towards the bathroom for a sign of Raye. She sighed and looked down at her hands; she was tired of small talk. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes before Darien spoke up.

"So you head and neck are feeling okay still?" he asked. Serena had forgotten that the accident had even happened; the pain had decreased to where it was a dull ache in the back of her skull.

"Oh. Yeah, I'm fine." Serena said with a slight frown. Darien nodded back at her and stirred his coke with his straw. 'What is taking Raye so long?' Serena thought to herself.

"I am a little curious about something. When I looked at your head earlier, I noticed that scar on the back of your neck." Darien said. Serena gulped.

"How did you get a scar in such a strange place?" he finished as he folded his hands over each other. Serena's eyes widened, and her palms started to sweat. She opened her mouth to answer but no sound came out. She shut it quickly and glanced down at her hands clasped tightly together on the booth table.

'Just tell him what you tell everyone Serena, and then it will go away…'she told herself as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked up at him; he looked a bit confused.

"I fell out of a tree when I was younger; I got that scar and a broken femur and a few ribs. It hurt." She said just above a whisper. Darien's confused expression vanished as he started to laugh.

"Yeah, I guessed as much. Wow, that must have been one tall tree; your femur? That's a hard bone to break." He said between chuckles. Serena looked down again, a little embarrassed. She looked at him when he laughed. He was so. . ._pretty_ when he laughed like that. It was much better than the usual frown that was plastered on his face.

"Yeah, I would be the one to break my femur, one of the hardest bones in my body to break." She said with sarcasm in her voice. She heard clicking heels coming towards their booth, and she sighed, Raye had finally returned to save her from talking to Darien. Serena smiled and slid across the seat to give Raye more room. They chatted for a while longer while they waited on their late lunch.

The group heard Mina before they saw her. She had twirled her way through the restaurant while carrying their plates without dropping a single thing. You couldn't say the same for the people who dogged the woman as she barreled through the crowd of people.

"Have a nice meal you guys. And Raye, next time you're free, call me and we'll go pick up that sheet music downtown." Mina said before she started to walk away. Serena looked at Mina and Raye, surprised.

"What?" Serena asked as Mina looked at Raye.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you Serena, Mina is a musician too. Oops." Raye said, giggling.

"I wrote a few songs for her to sing, and we got them tweaked and stuff at that place downtown." she finished as she took a big bite of her sandwich. Serena looked up at Mina who was nodding in agreement to everything Raye had said.

"Oh really? I sing too, that's pretty cool Mina." Serena said with a smile. 'Wow, that's ironic.' She thought to herself.

"I think so, I lovelovelove to sing. It's my favorite thing to do." She said as she beamed at the group.

"Well, it was nice to meet you Serena, see you later alligator!" she said as she laughed and skipped away.

"After a while crocodile…" Serena said back and turned to her food as she laughed and shook her head.

"I'm surprised you could handle her so well Serena, it took me at least a few days to deal with her 'friendliness'. Raye said. Serena shrugged her shoulders. Mina had reminded her of the way she used to be; positively chipper, and always smiling.

"I like her a lot, granted, I can see where that would be annoying at times, but it's refreshing to see someone so upbeat. Especially here." Serena said as she twirled a noodle on her fork. Raye nodded in agreement as she sipped her coke.

"Sorry to break up the gossip, but I better go. Andrew is coming to give me a ride in a couple minutes." Darien said as he glanced at his watch and stood from the booth. He pulled out his wallet and laid a fifty dollar bill on the table. Raye began to protest, but he held up his hand.

"I insist." He said. Serena scoffed.

"Making an attempt to at least act like a gentleman I see?" she said.

"Yes, I am. I can see that you are not, however making an attempt to be polite. That marinara sauce goes with the meatballs on your head quite nicely though." He said as he pointed at some of the thick red sauce that had gotten on Serena's cheek. Serena's cheeks got as red as the sauce, and she furiously grabbed her napkin to wipe off the sauce. Darien just laughed, knowing that she couldn't ever beat him at the little game they played with each other.

"Raye. Meatball. See you around." Darien said as he looked at each of the girls then left.

"Asshole!" he heard Serena yell at him before he walked out the door. He didn't turn back, but he did laugh; it was hilarious when she was upset with him.

* * *

He looked up and down the crowded streets, still thinking about Serena.

He found it strange the way she responded to his question about her scar earlier. She looked like she was about to cry when he asked about it. 'Hmmm.' He thought as he scanned the streets for his best friend's car.

'She's strange.' Darien thought. 'Falling out of a tree isn't that big of a deal.' He rubbed his chin as he continued to think about her falling-out-of-a-tree story. 'What if she lied?' It didn't take long for Darien's mind to wander; he thought of all the possible ways someone could hurt themselves that bad.

'I'm guessing that she didn't fall out of a tree, I wonder what really happened . . .' he pondered a few more ideas and then gave up. If she wasn't comfortable enough with the truth to share it, that was fine with him.

* * *

Serena glared at the glass door Darien exited through.

Meatballs! How stupid! Her hair looked absolutely nothing like meatballs. She wished she could punch him in the mouth the next time he called her that damned name. She ate the rest of her pasta quickly and the two girls left the restaurant to go to their apartments. Raye and Serena said goodbye, and made plans to get together the next time they weren't busy.

Serena strolled inside her apartment, dopped her purse and keys, went inside her living room and plopped down on her cozy couch.

Before she could reach the T.V remote, her cell phone rang. She groaned and reached for the glowing silver device.

"Hello?" she answered grumpily, not bothering to check the caller I.D. It took the other person a minute to answer.

"Serena?" a voice that sounded quite similar to her own answered quietly. Serena gasped. It had been months. No; _years_ since she had heard this voice. She stood up and held the phone with both shaking hands,

"M-Mom?"

*Aloha, sweet readers. I know this was a crazy-long chapter, and I do apologize. It's kind of dragging out too, but it will get better, I promise. Please please PLEASE review, I have a basic idea where this is going, but I'm all for change if it makes a story better. I appreciate you all; I hope you are enjoying my story so far!


	5. Poke Wars

*pant*

*pant*

'Just-

*pant*

a few-

*pant*

more…'

Serena's lungs felt like they were about to burst. She could feel her heart pounding fiercely in her ears, and feel it thumping in her cheeks. Beads of sweat formed twisted trails as they traveled down her bouncing chest and into her hot pink tank top.

*pant*

Her legs were burning from running for so long. She was so exhausted. More sweat was making its way down the back of her neck, plastering a few short flyaways of blonde hair to the damp flesh on her neck.

*pant*

She made a disgusted face as she swallowed hard, trying to rid her mouth of dryness that came along with her labored breathing. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her going now; she had to finish this, no matter how painful it was.

*pant*

*pant*

Finally.

Serena slammed her hand down on the obnoxious red power button on the treadmill's console. The whirring machine slowed to a stop, and the sweaty blonde carefully stepped down to take a long drink of water from her bottle. She took the hem of her tank top and wiped the sweat off of her forehead and smiled; she was proud of herself. Today, she ran 2 ½ miles, did 50 pushups, a few crunches, and still had some extra time to lift some arm weights. She glanced towards the chrome digital clock hanging from the wall as her legs started to feel a little less jelly-like.

'About time for me to get going. . .'

Serena took off the headband that held her long ropes of hair in place and shook them out, not wanting any more unnecessary tangles. She stretched out her aching muscles bit by bit while she glanced around the unfamiliar shiny room. She decided that she liked her new gym. It was a little bit classier than her old one, and it wasn't filled with as many creepy guys to ward off either. She grabbed her cell phone and started towards the locker room; passing mirrors, numerous Gatorade vending machines, and a few guys with biceps so big, they had trouble passing around little Serena. Serena squeezed in between two of the brutes talking, and received a couple of winks for doing so; she hated that. Rolling her eyes, she kept walking without another glance at the two men.

'Woah.' Serena thought with an uncomfortable face as she walked around a tattooed bald guy who smelled like a big protein shake. She had her hand on the doorknob of the women's locker room when she noticed a large calendar pinned to the wall above a water fountain. She strolled over too it curiously and scanned over the glossy page.

**Women's Kickboxing Classes:**

**Instructor: Lita Kino**

**Meetings: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays**

**Time: 5:00-6:30**

**Men's Kickboxing Classes: **

**Instructor: Darien Shields**

**Meetings: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sundays**

**Time: 5:00-6:30**

A blonde eyebrow began to twitch uncontrollably, while set of pretty white teeth began to audibly grate against each other.

"He. Never. Goes. Away!" she hissed to herself. Serena hadn't noticed the older woman behind her walk up to the fountain for a drink until she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Uhh. Are you okay?" The woman said; Serena turned around, with an evil glare still on her face. Serena was too upset to answer, so she awkwardly bent down for a quick drink before walking away.

'He's like super-glue!' Serena screamed inside her head.

Serena's hands balled up into fists as she let out a heated 'hmph'. She threw open the door to the locker rooms, dropped down her bag, and plopped her worn-out body down. She was so irritated! For the past few weeks, Darien had been everywhere she had been. It didn't matter if she was on campus, with Raye, out to eat, or even in the library on _her_ side of the campus; he was always running into her no matter what. Serena felt like he made a point to pay her a visit at least once a day just to make her feel like shit. And now, he was going to be at the same gym as her, every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.

'Well. I suppose that I'm the one _literally_ running into him, but still, he needs to find other places to go so he won't be tempted to tease me!' Serena threw down on the floor and checked the time on her phone.

'4:27 PM'

She needed to make it quick; she still had tons of homework to do. Quickly, she peeled her damp clothes of her body and grabbed what items she would need for a shower. She sighed as the hot stream of water soothed her tired muscles and made her relax for a little. She tried to forget about Darien, but he was just so distracting. When he walked up to her, he was all she could think about. He said mean, conceited things to her, and he obviously loved it when she got angry. She scrubbed her hair a little harder than necessary and smiled evilly when she pictured hitting him over the head with a wooden plank. She could imagine the pained look on his handsome face.

"No-good . . . conceited . . . . sexy . . . jerk!" she mumbled irately to herself. She couldn't help it that she was attracted to him physically though; she really did like to look at him. Those eyes of his were to die for, and his muscles were huge and perfectly toned. Being a kickboxing instructor must do great things to your body.

'No Serena. Don't think about it, it isn't good for you. But still…' her mind wandered.

'The hair, the skin, the smile. . .' Serena sighed as she thought about how nice he looked, compared how not-nice he was on the inside.

'Hmmm. Kickboxing.' She thought about it curiously as she grabbed her face wash and began to squeeze it out onto her hand.

'They had a women's class too, maybe I should try it out. But then again. . .'

Serena's thoughts drifted towards rather embarrassing images of her landing on either her rump or face in a class full of kickboxing women. She knew she couldn't join a kickboxing class!

She rinsed the conditioner out of her hair and the sweet smelling soap off her body and stepped carefully out of the tiny shower stall. After wrapping her towel around her body, she strolled carefully over to the mirrors to comb out her hair, dodging random puddles of water along the way.

She slapped a hand to her face when she realized she left her comb in her bag and turned around to get it. Unfortunately for Serena, she didn't notice the huge puddle of water her dripping hair had made right behind her. She turned around much too quickly, and before she knew what was happening, her feet came flying out from beneath her.

"AHHHH!" She yelped as her exposed back landed on the icy tile floors with a wet smack. Both of her elbows and head cracked onto the tile as all of her breath left her lungs with a gush. The now sore, drenched blonde laid there for awhile; she was too breathless to move.

She groaned loudly as she rolled over, and was able to hold back the hot tears of pain that had formed on the inside of her eyelids. She waited on the floor until her breath came back, and then shakily sat upright.

'And I thought I should sign up for a kickboxing class…' she thought bitterly to herself as she almost lost her balance again. She was on all fours and about to lift herself up when she heard the creak of the shower room door squeak open. She tried to cover her exposed chest with the towel; through the steam and tears in her eyes, she couldn't see who it was. After a few seconds, a quiet, meek voice called out into the white room.

"Is everyone okay in here?" The quiet female voice said. Serena tried to say that she was fine, but all that she managed to get out was a raspy "fuh" sound, before her lungs gave out on her again. Through her coughs, she could hear short, quick footsteps making their way towards her.

She glanced up as the footsteps stopped. A very pretty woman was standing above her with an arm outstretched to Serena. She took it gratefully and finally managed to get the stubborn towel to wrap around her body and stay there.

"Thanks." Serena said awkwardly as she brushed a damp strand of golden hair from her face. The woman smiled at her.

"No problem." She said with humor in her icy blue eyes. The woman was extremely pretty, with her small rounded features she looked almost pixie like. Serena eyed her electric blue hair and the attractive bob it was styled into.

'Her hair is awesome.'

She was dressed in a black jumpsuit with some bright blue tennis shoes. Her body was toned and muscular while her skin looked pale and delicate. Her smile looked sincere enough, so Serena smiled back.

"I am assuming you slipped and fell," she stated, Serena nodded.

"No fainting? No heart conditions? Low or high blood sugar levels? When is the last time that you've eaten?" the woman asked, her voice laced with concern. Serena giggled and shook her head no while stifling her laughs with her hand.

"No, you're right, I just slipped. I have a serious problem with falling." Serena said with a smile. Both women laughed, and stood awkwardly there for a moment before the woman noticed Serena rubbing the sorer of her two elbows.

"I think I'll just go get you some ice for that bruise, meet me outside in a minute." The woman said as she turned to leave.

"Okay. . . Thank you." Serena said before the woman closed the door behind her.

"Stupid hair; always giving me problems." She mumbled to herself before she fashioned it into that trademark style of hers in record time.

'Well she was nice.' She thought as she pulled her blue jeans over her shapely legs. She put on a t-shirt and made sure she looked somewhat decent before she stepped out of the humid shower room and into the locker room. She could hear the blue-haired woman's voice and another that sounded somewhat familiar as she grabbed her cell phone and car keys off of a shelf. She turned toward the voices and saw the blue-haired woman and another brunette woman stretching. Serena looked at the other woman and tried to remember where she had seen her before.

"Here you go." The blue-haired woman interrupted her thoughts as she handed her the homemade ice pack. Serena smiled gratefully and placed the soothing coolness on her elbow. She glanced at the tall, brunette woman again and frowned in frustration. She knew her from somewhere.

"Oh, I never told you my name by the way. I'm Amy." The blue haired woman said grinning.

"Thank you very much Amy, I'm Serena. It's nice to meet you."

"It's no problem." She said. Serena eyed the other woman again.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Serena knew she had seen her before, but she just couldn't put her finger on it. The brunette turned to look at her, and after a minute or two of obvious thought, the woman's face almost crumpled in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you gave me a ride home the other night . . . do you remember? Because I sure as hell don't." She said with a husky laugh. Serena laughed with her, and recalled the events of that night.

"Yeah, your name is Lita right?"

"Yeah." She replied, smiling uncomfortably while she nervously rubbed the back of her head.

"Sorry you had to . . . converse with me while I was like that. It had been a rough evening to say the least. I don't remember much from that night, but I do remember you! Well, I remember your hair at least. Oh; and sorry about the threats too, I probably wouldn't have done anything that could've caused you permanent damage." She said with a cheery smile. Serena giggled and told her that it was fine; after all, those weren't the first threats she had while working at the club.

"I'd like to start over," she said as she extended a muscular arm.

"I am Lita Kino, and I want to be friends." Serena took her hand and shook it smiling.

"My name is Serena Tsukino, and it is a pleasure to meet you . . . again." Lita laughed her husky laugh while bending over to tie her tennis shoes.

Serena noticed how much prettier the woman was when she wasn't drunk and sobbing. She was taller than the average girl, maybe about 5'7 or 5'8, with a completely ripped body. She looked very different from the last time they had met. Her green eyes shimmered with life and you could see her energy and happiness radiating through them. Her well defined abs were clearly visible through her black tank top. She had killer biceps and calves too; Serena wondered how much this woman had to work out to get so fit. She had her wavy hair put up into a loose ponytail that twirled down to almost her mid-back. The beautiful auburn-brown color of her hair really brought out the light in her vibrant green eyes and fair skin nicely.

"So, Serena, how long have you been a member at the gym?" Lita asked.

"Today was my first day actually; my old gym closed down a few weeks ago, so I signed up here. It's a bit more expensive, but it's so much nicer here." Serena replied as she sat down on the bench next to Amy as Lita nodded her head in response.

"Yeah, I love this place." Lita agreed.

"Have you thought about signing up for any of the kickboxing or aerobics classes?" Amy asked.

"Yeah. . . I considered it, but I think I'm a little to clumsy to do either." She said.

"Oh come on, we'll take it easy on you the first day. I'm the instructor and I'd love to have a new student!" Lita said with a smile while Amy nodded her head happily.

"Yeah, it starts in just a few minutes. You'd love it."

"I don't know you two, I've got homework." She said.

"C'mon. . ." Lita whined.

"Well I do understand that school always comes first" Amy said quietly.

It took only a little more convincing from them to get Serena to promise that she would be at the next session. Serena figured that she didn't have anything to lose, considering it didn't cost her a thing because she had a gym membership. She liked Amy and Lita; they were both very nice to her which was unusual. She was comfortable with being secluded in her own little lonely world, where she would only talk to her professors or the check-out ladies at grocery stores. She had gotten used to Raye, but that was about it, unless you count Darien. Maybe the kickboxing class wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

Serena walked outside into the frigid cold and looked at all the people walking around. Most people had others with them, talking and laughing. She saw an itty bitty girl with curly brown hair and adorable freckles make an effort to keep hold of her mother's free hand while the busy woman struggled to balance her cell phone, purse, and shopping bags. She giggled half-heartedly as the child stuck out her tongue to catch snowflakes, only slowing her stressed-out mother down more. She turned her head to see two smiling teenagers holding hands as they walked past the bright shop windows; the boy was gawkily tall with a mess of sandy blonde hair falling into his eyes. The girl holding his hand was a head shorter than him, with very dark hair. She was wearing what Serena considered way too much makeup for her own good. The young girl would've looked just fine with a little eye shadow, and maybe some blush, but not layers of orange gunk pained on her face and raccoon rings of eyeliner coating her eyes. The couple walked by her without a glance, both in their own little happy world.

'I guess I'm just a stick in the mud. . .' Serena thought to herself as she turned her head to see the young man laugh and bend down to give her a short but sweet kiss on the cheek.

'That must be what people like these days; Women with layers of makeup and barely enough clothing to cover their tits.' . Serena glanced down at what she was wearing today; another one of her favorite NYU t-shirts was hidden underneath her black trench coat. A pair of dark-wash blue jeans clung to her curvy legs, and a pair of silvery ballet flats adorned her feet.

'Ugh.'

Serena suddenly felt very alone; too alone for her own liking honestly. What on earth had made her start to try and connect with others again? The lonely little world she had created for herself had worked for her just fine until now.

Why did she let it get messed up?

Frustrated, she pulled out a cigarette and lit up. She continued to think about how much had changed in her life in just a few short weeks. Ever since that night she ran into that bastard Darien, weird things had been happening to her. Part of her wanted to cut off all her new connections, and the other part of her wanted to meet people and stop being so lonely . . . that part was the old Serena trying to get out.

'No.'

'That Serena left a very long time ago.' Serena thought to herself as she frowned bitterly. Her long ropes of hair fluttered in the sudden wind while a single tear slid down her pink cheek. She quickly reached up and wiped the treacherous drop of her face. After standing there arguing with herself for a few minutes, she realized how ridiculous it was to be standing there on the sidewalk in such cold weather. With one last long drag of her cigarette, she threw it down and stomped it out. There were no taxis in sight at the moment, and that just meant more waving and standing in the cold for Serena.

"Dammit all." She said as she walked quickly forward to try and get the attention of one of the few speeding vehicles. She sighed as two more passed, and backed underneath a store awning to wait.

"I really need to quit." She mumbled irately to herself as she looked down at the black stain of burnt tobacco on the ground.

"You got that right, sweet cheeks." Serena jumped, quickly spinning around to see the peppy voiced woman standing next to her. At first, Serena looked at the woman like she was on fire, as she had no idea who she was. After a second or two, Serena noticed the huge navy ribbon tying back a portion of her platinum hair. It was the woman who worked at the bistro Raye had taken her to only a few days ago.

'Yeah, the girl who looks just like me. . . Nina? No. . . . Mina! Yeah that's it.' She had her body leaned on the glass of the store window, and was staring at Serena with a huge smile.

"Hi, it's Mina right?" Serena said as Mina glanced down at the black ashes decorating the sidewalk while slowly nodding her head in response. Serena couldn't help but notice how very beautiful Mina was; her face was flawless, with perfect facial features and a killer body. She had long muscular legs, curves in all the right places, and boobs big enough to make men drool. She was wearing what looked like a very expensive outfit; it consisted of a short crimson trench-coat with a matching belt, a black skirt, a pair of black tights, and some exceedingly cute leopard print peep-toe high heels.

"You know, smoking those things will give you cancer, heart problems too. You could even die." Mina said with a grin stuck to her face. Serena glared at her through slanted eyes.

"Yeah, I've heard. But why are you smiling about it?" Serena said with a tiny bit of irritation leaking into her tone. Mina giggled and linked arms with her suddenly.

"What's wrong with smiling? You may as well smile about the bad things like you'd smile about the good things, right? After all, it takes more muscles to frown than to smile." She replied as she began to tug Serena along in the direction she was going. Serena decided she liked her blonde logic and giggled.

"Uh, Mina, I kinda have somewhere to be. Where do you think you're taking me?" Mina just kept on walking, humming some silly tune to herself. Serena figured this girl was crazy; just walking up to random people on the street, bitching at them about their bad habits and then dragging them along like a dog on a leash, weren't things sane people would do. Serena tugged her arm out of Mina's tight hold and stopped walking.

"What the hell are you doing?" Serena asked.

"I need your help Serena!" Mina pleaded with her dramatically by dropping to one knee and throwing her clasped hands up in the air in front of Serena's face. Serena looked around to see people looking at the two with confused faces; figuring how wild this must have appeared, she looked down at Mina and sighed.

"You should really get back up." She said as she put a hand to the bridge of her nose in agitation.

"I'm staying right here until you say you'll help me." Mina said in response.

"Come on Mina!" Serena said.

"I need you to give me a quick voice lesson, that's all, really! I have audition in a couple of days, and I was just praying that I'd run into you and I did! Raye told me you were going to be a voice coach, so I thought you could totally help me." She continued with her arms still up in the air and her whines getting louder little by little.

"Sorry Mina, but I've got homework and other things to do." Serena said as she took a step back from her, hoping to get away before she stared whining again. A mischievous smile crept onto Mina's bright pink lips as she brought her hands down and into her pocket.

"Ah ah aah, look what I've got." Mina purred as she slid a small red and white object out of her pocket. The coy blonde dangled it in front of her face as she stuck out her tongue. Serena's jaw dropped as she tried to figure how in the hell Mina got her box of cigarettes. Serena probably would've just walked off and left them if she hadn't just opened a new box.

"But- where, when- I, didn't- how did you? Dammit Mina!" She sputtered angrily. She reached down to snatch them away, but Mina was too quick for her. After several attempts, Serena gave up, frustrated and angry at the zany blonde in front of her. Serena watched as she stood up with a victorious grin plastered onto her face.

"Now then, I'll give these back after you give me the help I need." She said as she slid the box back into her pocket. It didn't look like Serena was going to get out of this one. She sighed and gave into her, grabbing Serena's arm, Mina led them to a few blocks away to a brightly painted salon that stood out next to the dreary colors of the skyscrapers it was between.

"Can I ask why we are going into a-?" Serena said before Mina cut her off.

"This is my beauty salon!" She said enthusiastically while shoving open one of two decorated glass doors. Inside, they were greeted by Mina's staff.

"Hello Miss Mina!" The women all said, glancing up from their customers to politely smile at their boss.

Serena noticed the girly letters covering the back wall of the store that read: The Venus Beauty Salon. Serena's mouth dropped as she read the wall a second time, just to be sure.

'THE Venus Beauty Salon?' Serena wasn't one to go get her hair or nails done often, but she was still a woman; and she had heard of this place. Fashion magazines from everywhere had said that this was one of the finest, most high-class places in the country to get whatever you needed done. Serena was beyond impressed, and thankfully she shut her gaping mouth before someone had a chance to notice.

The entire interior was decorated with blue and orange furniture and girly accents. Serena noticed how giddy everyone in the salon looked; Mina must have rubbed off on them. The shop was overflowing with customers, almost all the salon chairs were full with women, some older and some younger. A radio was blaring some obnoxious pop music from the far corner of the room, but it could barely be heard over the constant chatter of women. The hair and nail stylists working had on either blue or orange aprons to match the interior decorations; Serena smiled at this, it looked like Mina had a pretty nice thing going for her here.

Mina continued dragging body though the shop. Serena had hardly any control over her own two feet, and was knocking several things over with her flailing limbs. Her left arm rammed into a particularly hard edge of a table, wincing in pain, she saw a stack of various hair products fall onto the floor with a thud. She saw a worker with graying hair glare at her as she bent over to pick up the bottles, Serena would've apologized, but Mina was a woman on a mission, and there was simply no time for that.

Mina finally reached for the handle of yet another decorated door at the back of the shop, and stopped dragging her around. Serena took a few seconds to fix her now tousled hair and then looked around at where they were. They were standing inside a small- you guessed it- orange and blue decorated office. Mina's full name was displayed on a silver name plate on top of a stylish, but cluttered, black desk in the far corner of the room. Mina shoved a heap of papers to one side of her desk, and threw a stack of folders sitting in a navy blue leather chair onto the floor before plopping hers and Serena's bags down on the top of her desk.

"Sorry about this mess! Oh my…" Mina said as she almost tripped over a stack of business catalogues.

"I just can't make myself clean it, I like my mess the way it is you know?" She said with a giggle. Serena nodded in complete agreement; they really were a lot alike. Serena sometimes wondered how she lived in an apartment as messy as she kept hers.

"So. . ." Serena started.

"Let's do this thingy!" Mina exclaimed with a grin. Serena took off her coat and began their extremely unprofessional voice lesson. Much to Serena's surprise, Mina was a good listener as well as a quick learner. Mina had a unique voice; it was very sweet, but with a fresh sounding, rough edge to it. Serena was having nice time much to her surprise. It didn't take Mina that long to pick up on what exactly she needed to work on, so the lesson ended rather quickly.

After around 45 minutes of singing, the two women just began talking about random things; Serena learned quite a bit about Mina. Mina was from California, Santa Cruz to be exact. She grew up there, and what family she had still lived in the area. She loved to shop, loved to play volleyball, loved singing, and loved the art of beautification. Mina also loved _loving people._ It was almost an obsession for her; she was all about finding your one true love. She believed that everyone on earth had a soul mate, and that a person's gender, ethnicity, social or marital status didn't affect the bond that those people shared. It honestly reminded Serena of something a hippie would say. Serena asked if she had found her one true soul mate, and Mina responded by shaking her head sadly with a sigh. She had to hold back a scoff; she thought 'soul mates' and 'finding your true love' was a load of bullshit. Usually, Serena would've just been the typical killjoy-bitch who ended a stupid conversation. There was just that sincerity that Mina had about her that kept Serena from being nasty towards her. Plus, Serena knew that Mina trusted her, and that was why she was being so completely honest with her. What kind of person with a heart would intentionally bring such a bright spirit down?

"I moved here when I was a senior in high school," she began another rant with a far off look on her face as she kicked her heels off and onto the floor.

"My aunt and uncle got really sick of me; I was always out, doing my own thing, so they sent me off to college early. I lived with an older cousin of mine who lived in Saratoga Springs while I finished up high school. I moved into the city when I started beauty school. After I finished, I had planned on moving back home. But then I thought about how much I loved it here, so I stayed. I got to meet Raye and a bunch more friends that I love to death. Now, I am a sexy, single, businesswoman! I've got my own place and I love it!" She said as she threw her hands up in the air.

Both women had unknowingly made themselves very comfortable while they had been talking. Serena had sprawled out her long legs onto another chair so she could lay back with her hands behind her head, while Mina had kicked off her shoes and coat, and then thrown her legs onto the desk, knocking various desktop items to the ground.

"So tell me how you do it all, Mina." Serena said with a relaxed smile. Mina bent down to pick up what looked like a few paper clips and then stared blankly at Serena.

"All of what?" She asked. Serena figured this woman was seriously insane!

"You work 2 jobs, play on a traveling volleyball team, sing whenever you get the chance, and find time to breathe all at the same time?" Mina giggled at her.

"I guess it does seem like way too much to do, but if I don't stay busy, I get kinda . . . crazy." Mina giggled again and put a manicured hand up to her mouth.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Serena mumbled with a groan.

"Hey!" Mina said, reaching over to poke her in the arm.

"I bet YOU get kinda crazy when you don't have your cigarettes!" Mina laughed as she dangled the box in front of Serena's face.

"You little-" Serena grumbled with a menacing smile. She hopped up out of her seat and ran across the desk, nearly tripping over her shoes and magazines on the way. Mina curled into a ball in her chair before Serena stared to poke her in the sides, both women filled the room with noisy laughter and a few snorts as Mina jabbed Serena in the belly in defense. The poke-war went on for a few minutes before a impatient knock on the door interrupted them, the two looked at each other; Mina had a her foot pressing against Serena's midsection, while one arm was aimed for her side, and the other was pushing her still smiling face back. Serena was hunched over Mina with one arm holding her down by the shoulder, and the other was aimed for her Mina's belly.

"Come in?" It sounded more like a question when Mina said it. Neither of them moved out of their position when the same woman Serena had irritated before by knocking over those bottles enters the office. The woman was livid, glaring at the women like they were doing something illegal.

"Miss Mina." She said with her hands on her hips. The two looked at each other again, and died laughing. Serena gripped the desktop for support as tears rolled down her cheeks. Mina tried to manage her own out of control laughter, but ended up almost falling out of her chair instead.

"You know that is id NOT my responsibility to lock up in the evenings, I thought I should let you know that I will be leaving now." She snapped at her. Her words could barely be heard through the snorts and wheezes of the young women, and Mina had to give her a thumbs-up sign to convey that, yes, they both heard her loud and clear. She gave Serena one last unforgiving glare before spinning on her heels to sashay out the door. Wiping the tears from her face, Serena stood upright and watched the angered woman leave.

"Jeez. Who lit the fuse on her tampon?" Serena asked as she bent over to help Mina pick up random things from her desk that were scattered across the floor. Mina laughed and placed a few items on her desk.

"That's just Blanche, she's my assistant manager here, and while she is the most responsible, hard-working person alive, she is also a complete and total pain in the ass. As you can see." Both women snickered as they cleaned up the rest of the office supplies. After they grabbed their bags and put in their shoes and scarves, the two women walked out of the empty salon and into the raw winter air. Mina and Serena looked at each other and just smiled goofily.

"That was . . . exhilarating." Serena said with her stupid smile still fixed on her happy face.

"That was really, really fun!" Mina exclaimed with her own stupid smile to match Serena's plastered on her attractive face. She laughed wholeheartedly once again as Mina pretended to start another poke-war.

"Hey, there will be no more poking, I've got to get home and do some serious studying." Serena stated as she checked the time on her phone.

'8:42 PM' She had stayed at the salon with Mina for almost 3 hours, she hardly had any time to study left. With a tired sigh, Serena put her phone away and decided that the time she spent with Mina today could be considered studying, since she did voice coach her on a few things.

"I really did have a nice time with you, we've gotta do stuff like that more often." Mina added.

"Hey, I'm up for it I guess, that is, if you can find the time." Serena said with a teasing grin. The two decided to exchange phone numbers and try to talk whenever they could, and that would depend on just how busy Mina was. They said their goodbyes and walked away in opposite directions. The snow was falling a bit heavier now, and Serena shoved her hands in her pockets as she began to think back on her crazy afternoon with 'Miss Mina'. She laughed to herself as she thought about all the funny things they said, and stupid stuff they did. She really did enjoy her afternoon in the famous salon; it was worth losing study time over. And to think, it was all because that bitch stole her damn cigarettes.

Cigarettes.

Serena smiled an unusually creepy smile as her eye began to twitch uncontrollably for the second time that day.

"ARRRGH!" Serena wailed as she threw her arms up in the air. A few people passing her gave her crazy looks, but hey, she was used to it. Quickly, she whipped her small body around, and started to jog in the opposite direction. She ran through the crowded sidewalks with fierce determination written on her features.

It seemed like everyone in New York City could hear the tiny, meatball-headed blonde that night; running around the city screaming like a banshee for her friend.

"MINA! You idiot! You never gave me back my cigarettes!"

*Long time no see, beautiful readers. I know. Don't even bother saying it. I know, that I should be shot in the face, be beaten with a hammer, and be stabbed with 300,000 times in the eye with a toothpick, for how long I've kept you all waiting. The truth is, my computer crashed a few months ago, and I lost everything, I mean EVERYTHING. Pictures, stories, videos, you name it. I just got so upset after that, I didn't work on anything. I hope that some of you understand how completely sucky that is, and can see where I'm coming from. But anyways, tell me how you feel about this last chapter. Anything and everything you say will be thought about/considered by meh! I do appreciate all of you! -MogoGiggler

(P.S: I PROMISE that the hot stuff is coming up; as in, the act of (censored). I know it's _still_ dragging on and on, but believe me, it's crucial to the story.)


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